By Cosmas Okereafor
In almost six months the appointment of Compt, GA Otunla was announced by the customs top echelon, precisely towards the end of last year, 2025, we have as a publication organisation being following activities at the MMAC Command under his suzerainty. This is due to the fact that, MMAC area is a high brawl place due to its sensitivity, being the gateway to the country, and also for the movement of human and material resources. As media strategists, we also owe it a duty to support institutions of government like the customs so to speak, whose contributions to the growth of the national economy cannot be over emphasized, moreso at this time the Nigeria economy is going through serious transformation. A cursory look at the activities of MMAC Command revealed that officers and men in the area understood really that a new sheriff is in town whose mandate essentially is to turn things around in the area for the common good.Already, things are said to be working according to the projections of the new Comptroller who upon assumption of office curried the relationships of other stakeholders considered very necessary in promoting understanding, efficiency and growth.
This he pointed was important to ensure operational discipline of all stakeholders operating in the area. This measure has also led to operational sanity and industrial harmony even with eyes fixed on delivering measurable gains in terms of naira and kobo for the government which is the core mandate of the service.GA Otunla sees the airport environment as a structured and well organized place where all goods are properly manifested, unlike the land borders which appear to be different in terms of declaration. He did not shy away from the fact that, there are still pockets of concealments where multiple items are hidden under the guise of single declaration.Although, the MMAC boss pointed that, the introduction of multiple layers of checks and monitoring has become the magic wang in dictating discrepacies by his officers and men.On the issue of revenue generation, the CAC pointed that, his Command is upbeat and that it netted a whooping sixty eight billion (#68billion), between January and April 2026, and thereby surpassed the sixty four billion (#64billion), bench mark, also recorded in the same period in 2025.Further breakdown according to him showed that in January this year, 2026, that #24billion compared to #16.6billion in January, 2025, february recorded over #17billion and followed with March and April that pulled #15.2 billion and #12 billion respectively amidst shortage of cargo traffic globally.
The achievement of the command in terms of revenue accordingly was attributed to resilience and strategies especially at this time of cargo lull which Nigeria is not insulated from. Since GA Otunla took over the reign of power at the command, he had evolved the mechanism of dialogue with other stakeholders and even assured that, there would not be any break in communicating to relevant stakeholders; airlines, ground handling companies, customs licensed cargo agents amongst other stakeholders in the area. The ongoing Customs modernization machines which is targeting to reducing human to human interface, the CAC stressed is fully on course and when fully implemented will significantly impact positively on every stakeholder.Comptroller Otunla joined the Nigeria Customs Service in 1992 and since that time, he had criss- crossed every strata of the Service formations and still counting. His appointment as the Comptroller this time by the Customs Scribes to man the activities of the Service at MMAC remains a master stroke given what the NCS knows about him as a man with the midas touch, who is expected to bring his wealth of knowledge to the fore in this sensitive Command. His umblemish records and competence as a man who started from humble beginning, and now inching to the peak of his career caught our attention and this is why he is upright personality of the week.
